Growing together in Diversity

When you change your thinking (pikiran) You change your beliefs (keyakinan diri) When you change your beliefs You change your expectations (harapan) When you change your expectations You change your attitude (sikap) When you change your attitude You change your behavior (tingkah laku) When you change your behavior You change your performance (kinerja) When you change your performance You change your destiny (nasib) When you change your destiny You change your life (hidup). Source: bit.ly/1Q6D3lu 

Youth in Landscapes workshop - Day 4
Youth in Landscapes workshop – Day 4

Change! Is the word that has to be considered, and I believe that having the chance to go to Paris, learning and working with a diverse group of young people from around the world; with different backgrounds, cultures and perspectives on landscape, is part of positive change. I do really appreciate  the committee of Youth in Landscape Initiative which bravely took an initiative to make a change, and did so voluntarily. Once again, they are young people who bravely took an initiative, to make a change.

Yes, the first thing I got from this event is:  “Youth, Don’t be afraid to take an initiative. Don’t be afraid to make a change”. The second thing is “Ora ono gegayuan tan mowo pangorbanan, lan ora ono pangorbanan kang ilang muspro (Javanese language)”, meaning “there is no dream without a sacrifice, and there is no sacrifice that meaningless.”

I believe that the committee, the participants, mentors’, etc gave their energy, time and so on to take an initiative, gave their contribution in landscape challenges (education, landscape restoration, measuring success, finance and trade and right and tenure), and we  participants worked and learnt together to create a solution to landscape challenges.

What we do today, the sacrifice will not be meaningless, because of our belief in our dream, because we believe that what we do today will be very beneficial, useful, give positive impact and important for the future.

4 Days growing together

In a four days workshop from December 1-4, 2015 the participants learnt how to build their skills and perspectives together instead of doing it individually while creating a solution for their landscape challenge as team. Two statements that I will always remember are : “Be comfortable in the uncomfortable zone” and “You don’t need to be perfect but awesome”.  

For me, it was very challenging to create a solution to landscape challenge with a time limit. But together with my team, we believed that we could do it!  I was in the  education team which  had to create an idea of educative platform that will equip specialists of different land use sectors to become landscape professionals through a self- assessment tool. 

The people I was working with in education challenge are the most  incredible and  amazing youth I ever met. The diversity of people, backgrounds, skills and experience was very useful in the process of creating the idea. In addition to that, when someone felt tired, the other team members and the committee gave them support.  I call it growing together in the diversity!

Pitching process

Your purpose, the way you communicate it, it has to be clear, reasonable and feasible!

I can’t count how many times my friends practiced and practiced for pitching. Even though I didn’t get involved directly in pitching in front of the dragons,  I believe accompanying and giving our pitchers some ideas was a kind of contribution. That day was amazing. I was so happy, when people were became so excited and  interested in our idea, our work. That is the most beautiful part apart from the process itself.

Yes! there is no dream without a sacrifice, and there is no sacrifice that is meaningless. So, do your best in every single thing you do!

GLFCOP21 Youth in Landscapes' Dragons Den  Young development professionals and students could pitch solutions to global landscape challenges to a panel of experts in a Dragon's Den Style Event. © Andrew Wheeler for Wild Dog Limited / WLE_CGIAR 2015 all rights reserved worldwide.
GLFCOP21 Youth in Landscapes’ Dragons Den
Young development professionals and students could pitch solutions to global landscape challenges to a panel of experts in a Dragon’s Den Style Event. © Andrew Wheeler for Wild Dog Limited / WLE_CGIAR 2015 all rights reserved worldwide.

Feedback-Impact- and Expectation

The question you may always hear being asked after one comes back from somewhere as a delegate is the benefit of an event and how it will give an impact to people around you. For me, my self I do really want to give my contribution to the others as soon as possible. But I think it does not have to be  something difficult and big. If I want to go a thousand miles I think I have to start with my first step. So sharing my experience with others will be my first step to go a thousand miles in the future. I hope :

  • To share that landscape, its parts are connecting, its connection will give an impact
  • To share that landscape is not an environment only, but it’s also a social life
  • To share that how important to #ThinkLandscape

*Let’s be a change and make a change for the world to change, let’s start to #ThinkLandscape    

Novia Fadhilla Sari is one of the 10 young champions who will work on the “Education” Landscape challenge with Youth program’s partner: Wageningen UR.

Learn more about the Global Landscapes Forum Youth program, meet our 50 youth champions, discover the 5 Landscapes challenges they took up and the solutions they developed and pitched at the Dragon’s Den on 6th December 2015, in Paris.